Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle Reading App. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is a service we offer sellers that lets them store their products in Amazon's fulfillment centers, and we directly pack, ship, and provide customer service for these products. Something we hope you'll especially enjoy: FBA items qualify for FREE Shipping and .

By 1991, following the disintegration first of the Soviet bloc and then of the Soviet Union itself, the United States was left standing tall as the only global super-power. Not only the 20th but even the 21st century seemed destined to be the American centuries. But that super-optimism did not last long. During the last decade of the 20th century and the first decade of the 21st century, the stock market bubble and the costly foreign unilateralism of the younger Bush presidency, as well as the financial catastrophe of 2008 jolted America – and much of the West – into a sudden recognition of its systemic vulnerability to unregulated greed. Moreover, the East was demonstrating a surprising capacity for economic growth and technological innovation. That prompted new anxiety about the future, including even about America’s status as the leading world power. This book is a response to a challenge. It argues that without an America that is economically vital, socially appealing, responsibly powerful, and capable of sustaining an intelligent foreign engagement, the geopolitical prospects for the West could become increasingly grave. The ongoing changes in the distribution of global power and mounting global strife make it all the more essential that America does not retreat into an ignorant garrison-state mentality or wallow in cultural hedonism but rather becomes more strategically deliberate and historically enlightened in its global engagement with the new East. This book seeks to answer four major questions:

1. What are the implications of the changing distribution of global power from West to East, and how is it being affected by the new reality of a politically awakened humanity?2. Why is America’s global appeal waning, how ominous are the symptoms of America’s domestic and international decline, and how did America waste the unique global opportunity offered by the peaceful end of the Cold War? 3. What would be the likely geopolitical consequences if America did decline by 2025, and could China then assume America’s central role in world affairs? 4. What ought to be a resurgent America’s major long-term geopolitical goals in order to shape a more vital and larger West and to engage cooperatively the emerging and dynamic new East?

America, Brzezinski argues, must define and pursue a comprehensive and long-term a geopolitical vision, a vision that is responsive to the challenges of the changing historical context. This book seeks to provide the strategic blueprint for that vision.

"Trust Betrayed: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and the Selling Out of America's National Security"
For eight years, ex-Navy SEAL sniper Scott Taylor served his country in the same region of Iraq as American Sniper author Chris Kyle. After he was injured during Operation Iraqi Freedom, Taylor came home--and discovered the Obama administration was leaking sensitive intelligence information for political gain. Find out more

{"currencyCode":"USD","itemData":[{"priceBreaksMAP":null,"buyingPrice":17.05,"ASIN":"046502954X","isPreorder":0},{"priceBreaksMAP":null,"buyingPrice":13.35,"ASIN":"0465027261","isPreorder":0}],"shippingId":"046502954X::hl8l7J2N9dvB5C056qi8TwXjGf8dRSzs%2Fur%2BP4av1DzMNptPWBHEVacNX5M0%2FLgByy3Xe85I%2B8J%2FiWh8NqzxEAR1GCDFDWvTnFaI0Gak25c%3D,0465027261::eh03ISfkkflVzScD0K5U5jsGw6nHbbJ5hkQvwis4%2BdqkyceB6w3XQot%2BJtxIMMsfQ0PElNVgGqb%2FmES%2BhUY2uyjFDaJAXsbV%2BVugU9SM0Mg%3D","sprites":{"addToWishlist":["wl_one","wl_two","wl_three"],"addToCart":["s_addToCart","s_addBothToCart","s_add3ToCart"],"preorder":["s_preorderThis","s_preorderBoth","s_preorderAll3"]},"shippingDetails":{"xy":"same"},"tags":["x","y","z","w"],"strings":{"addToWishlist":["Add to Wish List","Add both to Wish List","Add all three to Wish List","Add all four to Wish List"],"addToCart":["Add to Cart","Add both to Cart","Add all three to Cart","Add all four to Cart"],"showDetailsDefault":"Show availability and shipping details","shippingError":"An error occurred, please try again","hideDetailsDefault":"Hide availability and shipping details","priceLabel":["Price:","Price for both:","Price for all three:","Price For All Four:"],"preorder":["Pre-order this item","Pre-order both items","Pre-order all three items","Pre-order all four items"]}}

Editorial Reviews

Review

JimmyCarter, 39th President of the United States of America“Brzezinski’s latest book reflects his talent for unraveling complex historical issues and his strength in advocating long-term solutions for them.”

Senator John Kerry

“Strategic Vision is a clear, vivid look at America’s place in the world today. Rather than surrender to defeatist speculation about the perceived end to the American Century, Zbigniew Brzezinski’s reality-based insights explore how the United States can move forward over the next two decades. This is a must-read for a straightforward assessment of the challenges of today and tomorrow and the unique strengths America brings to the global stage.”

Senator Richard G. Lugar, State of Indiana; Ranking Member of and Former Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee

“Informed by a lifetime of comprehensive scholarship and many years of responsibility on the front lines of our diplomacy and national security, Zbigniew Brzezinski provides in Strategic Vision a comprehensive blueprint for successful planning and action. His challenge to the U.S. to be a sophisticated leader of a vital democratic-enlarged zone in the West and a promoter of stability in the East is timely and persuasive.”

Leslie H. Gelb, President Emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations and former New York Times columnist

“One of America's precious few master strategists paints a convincing picture of an increasingly messy world ahead and presents a U.S. policy to manage it — going to strength by building an expanded Europe and keeping a burgeoning Asia stable. Succinct, sharp, and sensible.”

Robert M. Gates, U.S. Secretary of Defense, 2006-2011

“Strategic Vision is a much-needed wake-up call regarding the international repercussions if America fails to address its multiple domestic crises successfully. A realist but not a pessimist, Brzezinski offers a thoughtful—and, as usual, provocative and timely—must-read for all who are concerned about the future of our country at home and abroad.”

Jim Wolfensohn, former President of the World Bank, 1995-2005“The author has given us a powerful and dynamic examination of our history, the current challenges and the probable changes in the economic, political and environmental balance on our plant. He analyzes the current situation in key countries and thereafter presents the issues we are likely to face in 2050 in a world divided between a dominant East and a challenged West. This is an insightful, provocative and stimulating analysis that should be read by all concerned with global stability and growth.”

Joseph S. Nye, Jr. Professor at Harvard and author of The Future of Power

“Zbigniew Brzezinski combines theoretical acuity with unmatched practical experience to provide a provocative and compelling portrait of the future along with a convincing map to navigate it.”

Kirkus Reviews“[Brzezinski] offers an astute, elegant appraisal of the waning of America’s ‘global appeal’ and the severe consequences of the shifting of power from West to East….Brzezinski provides a powerful cautionary tale….An urgent call for ‘historic renewal’ by one of America’s sharpest minds.”

Michiko Kakutani, New York Times

“…provocative… a clear-eyed, sharp-tongued assessment of this hinge moment in time, when the world’s center of gravity is shifting “from the West to the East.”

David Ignatius, Washington Post

“…a bracing discussion of what a revival of U.S. power would actually require over the next few decades…”

Foreign Affairs

“In this crisp and stimulating book, Brzezinski speculates on the dangers that could result from the decline of the United States and oªers his prescriptions to restore American leadership in a changing world.”

The Diplomat (Asia)

“Zbigniew Brzezinski… has written another important book.”

e-International Relations, International Politics website

“Brzezinski presents a masterfully written…vision for the future of geopolitics and America’s role in the world.”

Midwest Book Review

“Any political studies holding should have this!”

Today’s Zaman (Turkey)

“[Brzezinski] puts forth a strong vision in his 200-page book. Politicians like German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy should read it.”

Kirkus Reviews

“[Brzezinski] offers an astute, elegant appraisal of the waning of America’s ‘global appeal’ and the severe consequences of the shifting of power from West to East….Brzezinski provides a powerful cautionary tale….An urgent call for ‘historic renewal’ by one of America’s sharpest minds.”

Daily Beast

“The central message of Strategic Vision is how much more ghastly it will be on all fronts if America cannot urgently mobilize a national will for renewal.”

Michigan War Studies Review

“This short book, crammed with facts and acute analysis well presents Zbigniew Brzezinski's considered ‘strategic vision’ of the future world and the changed but still vital leadership role of the United States.”

The New Republic

“When it comes to offering a vision to guide American foreign policy, Zbigniew Brzezinski’s latest book, unlike so much other literature of this type, refuses to lament or exaggerate the alleged decline in American power and influence…. [A] welcome antidote to the dreary school of ‘declinism’ now dominating much of the foreign-policy conversation.”

Midwest Book Review, May 2012

“Strategic Vision is a powerful documentation of the steps that must be taken to ensure continued American success.”

Polish American Journal“Once again, Brzezinski gives the reader thoughtful insight on the state of global affairs and America's place in the world. He provides a wakeup call to international affairs and their effect on this country.”

About the Author

Zbigniew Brzezinski, formerly President Jimmy Carter’s National Security Advisor, is a counselor and trustee at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a professor of American foreign policy at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. His many books include the New York Times bestseller Second Chance: Three Presidents and the Crisis of American Superpower; The Choice: Global Domination or Global Leadership; and The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperative. He lives in Washington, D.C.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

In "Strategic Vision," Zbigniew Brzezinski, a foreign policy expert and former National Security Adviser, offers a concise and cogent analysis of the reasons behind the decline in America's global standing, and the dangers that are sure to follow if we let that decline continue. The book is well-written, readable and at 225 pages fairly short for a a book written by someone of Brzezinski's stature on such a broad subject.

Brzezinski provides the expected analysis of America's rise as a global power and a brief comparison to other empires throughout history, as well as the most important reasons behind the recent decline in U.S. influence. He argues strongly that a strong United States is vital to global stability for the foreseeable future. He does not think that China, for example, will be in a position to assume the current U.S. role even by 2025 and beyond.

If the U.S. fails to maintain its stabilizing influence, Brzezinski foresees global chaos, uncertainty and increased tensions between nations. Countries will be less apt to cooperate and more inclined to pursue pure self-interest, and this will happen during a time when collaboration on issues like climate change and terrorism will be more and more crucial. Brzezinski calls for the U.S. to fulfill a "dual role" going forward: First it must secure and strengthen the countries that make up the West. Second it needs balance and mediate between the rising powers in the East, especially China, India and Japan. In order to do this, of course, the U.S. needs to fix its domestic problems and regain credibility.

Once thing I really liked is that fact that, even in a fairly short book on global issues, the author gave an entire chapter to the issue of the U.S. domestic and economic problems.Read more ›

I'm a Morning Joe regular, and I've long admired Dr. Brzezinski. However, this prolonged memo (it's really too short to be called a "book".) makes a case for considering multiple points of view. The other reviews (when I bought the book there were none, now there are five) struck me as articulate, but leaning towards sycophancy. There's a lot to like, but it's not beyond criticism.

For example,he explains the present belief of America's decline by saying: "Six critical dimensions stand out as America's major, and increasingly threatening, liabilities:". Thefirst is an unsustainable national debt, the second our "flawed financial system", third, "widening income inequality coupled with stagnating social mobility", fourth is decaying national infrastructure, fifth is "a public that is highly ignorant about the world", while sixth is "America's increasingly gridlocked and highly partisan political system."

You've got to agree with this analysis (even though I think the analysis in WINNER TAKE ALL POLITICS by Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson presents the same problems with root causes much more effectively). Brzezinski makes all these points quite cogently without belaboring the analysis. The dialogue is fast, crisp and, best of all, decidedly un-wonkish. Anyone can understand the difficult concepts.

Unfortunately, instead of providing solutions to what many economists, political scientists and social comentators have labelled "insoluble", he says that "the foreseeable future is still largely America's to shape.Read more ›

*****"One of America's precious few master strategists paints a convincing picture of an increasingly messy world ahead and presents a U.S. policy to manage it -- going to strength by building an expanded Europe and keeping a burgeoning Asia stable. Succinct, sharp, and sensible."--Leslie Gelb, President Emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations*

Zbigniew Brzezinski, former National Security Advisor, a key architect of America's cold war strategy, calls for an urgent need of a historic review of US Strategic Vision (an enduring theme at the U.S. Army War College). He looks back to the optimism following the fall of the USSR Communist Empire and regrets America's missed opportunity. Assessing a detailed analysis, he outlines a new strategy, by which the United States can reassert its position of strength. Monitoring the tottering of the West as the lone superpower, Dr. Brzezinski has warned in his book, "Second Chance, 2007," about the 'Crisis of the American Superpower'. Now, he looks carefully at the expected shift in global power as Europe declines, and draws a bold strategy making way for an accommodating global picture.

The visionary thinker focuses on the change of global power distribution, to counteract the West powers receding due to Europe economics, and the waning of U.S. influence, making way for new entrants from China, India, and Brazil, motivated by their awakened perception of an active global political participation. His analysis prescribes remedies to assert America's place in that new scheme, balancing the shift in global power, especially in relation to China. Brzezinski, exposes bold views, on the future of America and the Crisis of Global Power conveying his hawkish approach.Read more ›